Scripture on Miscellanea

Law-Gospel Exegesis

Sun, 14 Jan 2024 21:03:36 +0000

Law-gospel is a wonderful theological category. It’s lousy exegesis. If every command that you find you put in the category of law, and every promise you put in the category of gospel, and every time you see a command you say, ‘Well the point of this command must be, you can’t do this but Jesus has done it for you and therefore be thankful for the justification you have in him, you are absolutely eradicating scores of imperatives and exhortations that Paul treasures in the New Testament and things that are deeply important for us to embrace as Christians.

Quiet, Peaceful, and Godly Lives

Sun, 14 Jan 2024 20:59:42 +0000

There aren’t many books being written about the seven steps to living quiet, peaceful, and godly lives, and yet that’s the explicit, unequivocal teaching of the word of God.

Contentious Spirit

Sun, 14 Jan 2024 18:20:11 +0000

Scripture often condemns a “contentious” spirit (Prov. 13:10, 18:6, 26:21, Hab. 1:3, 1 Cor. 1:11, 11:16, Tit. 3:9) and commends “gentleness” (2 Cor. 10:1, Gal. 5:22, 1 Thess. 2:7, 2 Tim. 2:24, Tit. 3:2, Jas. 3:17). The Reformed community should give much more attention to these biblical themes.

Babbling Fool

Sun, 07 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.

What do you think about when you are in bed?

Wed, 06 Jan 2021 12:18:02 +0000

What do you think about when you are in bed, either settling down to sleep or waking up? There are those who ‘work out evil on their beds’! (Mic. 2:1). And there are those who ‘sing aloud on their beds. The high praises of God are in their mouths’ (Psa. 149:5-6). There are those who ‘devise mischief on their beds’ (Psa. 36:4). And there are those who commune with their hearts and remember God and meditate on him on their beds’ (Psa. 4:4; 63:6).

On James 3:1

Fri, 25 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Peter, recognizing that Christens long for a fulfilled experience, a good life, a rich blessing from God, commands any who ‘would love life and see good days’ to ‘keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile’ (1 Pet. 3:10, quoting Ps. 34:12-13).

It would be impossible to pretend that ordinarily we see the tongue in this light.

We rarely stand alongside Genesis or Paul in finding in our speech the primary evidence of our fallen state.

Newton on Promises in Affliction

Tue, 13 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The far greater part of the promises in Scripture are made and suited to a state of affliction; and though we may believe they are true, we cannot so well know their sweetness, unless we ourselves are in a state to which they refer.

The Bible instruction of early youth

Sat, 03 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

The Bible instruction of early youth affect the character all through life. You were the means of making me a preacher…

Malapert Discussions

Sun, 16 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

What must the holy angels, who, with holy admiration, contemplate the wisdom and glory of God displayed in the gospel; what must they think of the arrogance of sinful worms, who presume so far to trifle with the doctrines and mysteries he has revealed, as to degrade them them into subjects for school exercise and logical prize-fighting?

Can it be possible to maintain a spirit of reverence and dependence amidst the noise of such malapert discussions?

Be Scripture Men

Mon, 01 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000

If the Scripture be of divine inspiration, then be exhorted, to study the Scripture. It is a copy of God’s will. Be Scripture-men, Bible-Christians.

Our Chief Ambition

Fri, 15 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Oh let this be the thing we are chiefly ambitious of, the enjoyment of God in his ordinances!

The Second Most Important Book for Children

Sun, 04 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Besides the Bible, your lives are the most important book your children will ever read. In the book of your life, they will see how important your views on God are, whether worship is a delight or a duty, whether sin is a horrible evil or mere naughtiness, and whether we really cherish our families or view them as a burden.

The Nature of Inspiration

Tue, 30 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0000

When we think of God the Lord giving by His Spirit a body of authoritative Scriptures to His people, we must remember that He is the God of providence and of grace as well as of revelation and inspiration, and that He holds all the lines of preparation as fully under His direction as He does the specific operation which we call technically, in the narrow sense, by the name of ‘inspiration.’

Protestants Appeal to Authority

Thu, 28 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Before all else, Protestantism is, in its very essence, an appeal from all other authority to the divine authority of Holy Scripture.

Religion of the Bible

Thu, 09 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

The religion of the Bible thus announces itself, not as the product of men’s search after God, if haply they may feel after Him and find Him, but as the creation in men of the gracious God, forming a people for Himself, that they may show forth His praise.

Chew the Cud

Sun, 15 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Chew the cud, and call up all when you come home in secret, by meditation preach it over yourselves. If it were coldly delivered by the preacher, do you consider the great weight of the matter, and preach it more earnestly over to your own hearts.

Singles in the Service of God

Sun, 15 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

O that single persons knew (for the most part) the preciousness of their leisure, and how free they are to attend the service of God, and learn his Word, in comparison of the married.

Vos on the Importance of Biblical Historicity

Sun, 15 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

But, if according to the Bible [the patriarchs] are real actors of the drama of redemption, the actual beginning of the people of God, the first embodiment of objective religion; if Abraham is the father of the faithful, the nucleus of the church; the denial of their historicity makes it useless from our point of view.

Unpractical Theology?

Tue, 10 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Some may scorn the comfort and triumph of [1 Peter] as unpractical theology. His answers are answers of faith. But Peter knows that his witness is true, that Jesus Christ is real. He has tasted that the Lord is good, and that his goodness will not fail. ‘This is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it’ (1 Peter 5:12).

Serious Meditation on Truth

Tue, 27 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Remember, it is not a hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths, that make them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bees touching of a flower that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time on the flower the draws all the sweetness. It is not he reads most, but he meditates most, that will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian.

Newton’s Childhood

Sun, 04 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

When I was four years old, I could… repeat the answers to the questions in the Assembly’s Shorter Catechism, with the Scripture proofs; and all Isaac Watts’ smaller Catechisms, and his Children’s Hymns.

The Old Testament Story

Sun, 05 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

The Old Testament is the story of God, who progressively reestablishes his new-creational kingdom out of chaos over a sinful people by his word and Spirit through promise, covenant, and redemption, resulting in worldwide commission to the faithful to advance this kingdom and judgment (defeat or exile) for the unfaithful, unto his glory.

The Old Testament Revelation of the Messiah

Thu, 21 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Old Testament Revelation approaches the concept of a personal Messiah very gradually. It sufficed for fallen man to know that through His divine power and grace God would bring out of the human race victory over the serpent. In that faith could rest. The object of their faith was much less definite than that of ours, who know the personal Messiah. But nonetheless, the essence of this faith, subjectively considered, was the same, viz., trust in God’s grace and power to bring deliverance from sin.

The Rose and the Lily

Wed, 12 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

The Lord Christ is, in the Scripture, compared to all things of eminency in the whole creation. He is in the heavens the sun, and the bright morning star; as the lion among the beasts, the lion of the tribe of Judah. Among the flowers of the field, here he is the rose and the lily.

News of a Better World

Sun, 26 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Blessed by God for the news of a better world, where there will be no sin, change, nor defect for ever. And let us praise him, likewise, that He has appointed means of grace and seasons for refreshment here below, for a throne of grace, a precious Bible, and returning ordinances: these are valuable privileges.

God Has Spoken

Sat, 14 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

A theologian’s confidence comes from the conviction: God has spoken.

The Church Under the Cross

Mon, 09 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The Revelation of John is nevertheless primarily a book of consolation for ’the church under the cross’ of his time, to urge it to persevere in the struggle and to encourage it by picturing the crown awaiting it.

Psalm 103

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

There is too much in [Psalm 103], for a thousand pens to write, it is one of those all-comprehending Scriptures which is a Bible in itself, and it might alone almost suffice for the hymn-book of the church.

Bavinck on Elihim

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Elohim is not presented in Genesis 1 as a cosmic sculptor who uses preexisting material to produce a work of art, but as One who merely by speaking, by uttering a word of power, calls all things into being. The whole of Scripture concurs.

Bavinck on Science and Scripture

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Human scientific research cannot become an independent third-party arbitrator deciding what parts of Scripture, if any, are reliable and to be accepted. Those who make their doctrine of Scripture dependent on historical research into its origination and structure have already begun to reject Scripture’s self-testimony and therefore no longer believe that Scripture.

Commandments not Burdensome

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

Love the Father has Given Us

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

Flavel on Providence

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Some providences, like Hebrew letters, must be read backwards.

Fesko on Baptism and the Red Sea

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000

According to Paul, baptism foreshadowed in Israel’s Red Sea crossing) is not a miscellaneous cleansing rite or a general sign of initiation, but is that which brings God’s people into the historical narrative of the eschatological exodus.

Calvin on Doctrine and Life

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Doctrine is not an affair of the tongue, but of the life; is not apprehended by the intellect and memory merely, like other branches of learning; but it is received only when it possesses the whole soul, and finds its seat and habitation in the inmost recesses of the heart.

The History of Man

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

The grass lives, grows, flowers, falls beneath the scythe, dries up, and is removed from the field: read this sentence over again, and you will find it the history of man.